Consumers will soon have better ways to vet real estate agents

New Realtor.com profiles to launch

Consumers already know what neighborhood they want to live in, they’ve obsessed over the school ratings, where the nearest gym or yoga studio is, and they’ve already combed through every real estate market report in the area and dug through real estate sites for data gems for weeks, months, sometimes even years.

When looking for representation, the challenge is that many sites surface agent recommendations based on who paid to be at the top of the results, or agents with large teams, and one person gets credit for 25 agents’ work, so they pop up at the top of the list of “best” agents because they technically have the most closings.

Better consumer connections with agents

Home buyers or sellers typically ask their Facebook friends for Realtor recommendations (and they all tag a bunch of strangers), but with these profiles, anyone can comb through and do their own web stalking of the agents (come on, we all do it). The profile shows a stream of the agent’s activities in the area which gives an idea of what they’re really about – see a bunch of photos of foreclosed properties, but you’re looking to buy a $3M home, you might be in the wrong spot, and conversely, if you see a bunch of images of ultra luxury properties, but you’re looking for a tiny vacation bungalow, this might not be your bungalow expert.

What is most attention-grabbing about the new profiles is the check-in feature that shows you whether or not an agent is legitimately active in the community where they profess to be an expert. If they’ve showed clients 12 houses, checked in to the coffee shop and Pho restaurant, previewed 8 homes for sale, and gone on 3 client appointments in a specific subdivision in the last week, they’re probably more of an expert than the “neighborhood expert” who hasn’t set foot in the area in two years, but they once closed a home there and they run reports on the zip code, so they can say they’re an expert.

Additionally, Realtor.com doesn’t allow any agent to check in to a location unless their GPS says they’re physically on site, and it emails the listing agent that they visited, so it’s self policing and pretty hard to game – much better than reading an agent’s site that promises to be an expert, but with no proof.

The profile shows all of the agent’s designations, which are the fancy letters behind their name that outline what extra education they’ve had beyond licensing and in-house classes their broker offers. Someone who is obsessing over getting an ultra efficient home may want to seek out an agent who is Green Certified and spends time in their desired neighborhood. The company emphasizes that through extensive research, they want to surface relevant information that consumers want to connect with.

The bottom line is that consumers already have data at their fingertips about homes and neighborhoods, but soon, they’ll have some relevant data at their fingertips to better hire representation. It’s not perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than throwing spaghetti to a wall and seeing what sticks.

Tags

AGBeat Chief Operating Officer: Lani, named 100 Most Influential, as well as 12 Most Influential Women in Blogging, Bashh Founder, Out and about in Austin A Lister, is a business and tech writer and startup consultant hailing from the great state of Texas in the city of Austin. As a digital native, Lani is immersed not only in advanced technologies and new media, but is also a stats nerd often buried in piles of reports. Lani is a proven leader, thoughtful speaker, and vested partner at AGBeat.

( May 22, 2014 )

( May 28, 2014 )

It all boils down to the public demanding that the performance bar be raised. The industry will never truly tackle the issue of incompetent agents; there’s far too much money being made from the national all the way to the broker level. Until clients vet agents by what they know and what they do instead of who they play tennis with, this industry will remain at the bottom of the public perception pile.